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FRIEDENSTHAL 



ITS STOCKADED MILL, 



NORTHAMPTON COUNTY, PA. 



1749-1767. 










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A SETTLEMENT OF THE 
MORAVIAN (ECONOMY, 
Near the Barony of^Tazareti^.Northain-ptori Co Ifuxii 




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Friedensthal 



STOCKADED MILL 



A MORAVIAN CHRONICLE, 



1749-1767. 



THE REV.. WILLIAM C REICHEL, 



AND CONTRIBUTED BY 



JOHN W. JORDAN. 



WHtTEFIELD HOUSE, 

NAZARETH, PA.: 

Printed for the Society. 

1877. 



, fa I? 3 



INTRODUCTION. 



The within historical paper was written by the late Professor William C. 
Reichel, at the instance of one of a company of ladies and gentlemen, — 
many of them lineal descendants of those whose names occur in the narra- 
tive ; but all lovers of the olden time, of olden memories, and of "Old Dutch 
Government Java," — who proposed to meet in August of 1875, at Friedens- 
thal, in Palmer Township, Northampton County, to pass a day of social 
pleasure on the site of a Moravian Economy which had its seat there when 
Pennsylvania was still a Province of the British Crown. Owing, however, 
to inclement weather and to other causes, the "field-day" was deferred until 
the autumn of the following year. When that time came the illness of the 
author and his subsequent death in October 187G, caused its indefinite post- 
ponement. The paper is strictly authentic in all its details, and hence may 
be justly regarded as a valuable contribution to the history of the early 
Moravian Settlements. Treating of this people, it treats of one portion of 
the German element of the population of Pennsylvania, — that element, which, 
though held in low esteem by the Proprietary Governors despite the high 
regard in which they were held by old Proprietor Penn, has proved itself 
to have been mighty in rearing the solid structure of our Commonwealth. 

John W. Jordan. 

September, l ^77. 

; ) %^H i 



Friedensthal and its Stockaded Mill. 



A MORAVIAN CHRONICLE. 
749-I767. 

For those who are read in the history of the Moravian move- 
ment in the Province of Pennsylvania, the spot, on which we are 
gathered so informally this summer-afternoon, on the greensward 
and in the shade of trees, has irresistible attractions It is the site 
of a primitive Moravian settlement. One hundred and twenty-six 
years ago, the 13th day of January last, the fall of the first tree at 
the axe-man's hand, as it awoke echoes in these woods, told of the 
occupation of the white man and of his purpose to build him here 
a home. It was, however, not for a cabin, — not for a straggling 
hamlet, nor for a town with dusty streets, that tree after tree was 
here sent headlong to the ground. The olden time Moravian 
settlement had its type in none of these. It was fashioned after an 
old-world type; after a model brought by the Brethren from the 
fatherland, and which, we have reason to believe, they loved to 
perpetuate, in the hope that peradventure through its presence, the 
memories of ancestral homes might be kept green in the hearts of 
their children and of childrens' children far down the stream of 
time. 

There are those living who well remember "Old Nazareth,'' Gna- 
denthal and Christian's Spring, as they were some sixty years ago. 
Then already, it is true, they were decadent; and yet, despite all 
that the march of time, new modes of thought and new generations 
of men were doing to erase it, they bore on the faces of them the 
birth-mark which unmistakably proclaimed their Moravo-Silesian 
parentage. Theirs was the type of the olden time Moravian settle- 
ment. A quadrangular area enclosed within solidly built structures 



4 FRIEDENSTHAL 

of wood and stone; on one side stabling and stalls for horses, horned 
cattle, sheep and swine; on the second a spacious barn and shelter 
for wains and carts; on the third a row of shops, — a shop for the 
baker, one for the cordwainer and weaver,— a house for the curing 
and storing of flax, a smithy and a cider-press ; and on the fourth 
the dwellings of the hard-working people who inhabited the forest 
oasis, — large, lumbering structures of log or of frame and " brick- 
nogged," — invariably hip-roofed, and one of them sure to be capped 
with a turret in which swung a bell, that rang out over hill and 
dale and down into the deep wouds every day, at sunrise and at 
sunset, its sweet summons to the house of prayer. Verily it needed 
but a moat and a drawbridge to have transformed these granges 
into impregnable strongholds. 

On the ground on which we are met there stood until the close 
of the last century a Moravian settlement of this kind, comprising 
within its limits a plantation and plantation-buildings, a dairy, 
and a mill for the grinding of bread. Thirty-five years ago its 
demolition was completed, and, saving the well in the barn-yard, 
there is no vestige of it left. Great, then, in view of this utter 
annihilation, is, I ween, the debt of gratitude we are owing to the 
early annalists of our Church, who, with exemplary providence, 
committed to writiug day by day, or week by week, whatever of 
moment occurred in their little world; thus enabling us after the 
lapse of more than one hundred yeirs, to hold pleasant converse 
to-day with the men and women who once peopled this peaceful 
vale. 

Now the origin, rise and growth of Friedensthal were on this 
wise. 

The expenditure of time and labor incurred annually by the 
Brethren at Nazareth in transporting the bulk of the harvests of 
the Barony to the Bethlehem mill for grinding, (the mill that was 
built at Christian's Spring in 1747 being of very limited capacity 1 ) 
had in 1749 grown to be so grave, as to move their head men to 
take speedy steps for closing this drain upon their resources. The 
erection of a mill near at hand, fully appointed for the conversion 
into bread of all the grain grown on the three plantations, to wit: 
Nazareth, Gnadenthal and Christian's Spring, or "the upper places," 

1 The lower story of the structure was a grist, and the upper a saw mill. 






AND ITS STOCKADED MI J J.. 5 

as they were called in the days of which we write from a Bethle- 
hem standpoint, — was, very naturally forsooth, suggested as the 
readiest solution of the problem. Now to this solution the Breth- 
ren began to apply themselves on the 28th of October, 1749, as on 
that day, John Nitschmann 1 (a brother of Anna Nitschmann, the 
gifted daughter of old Nitschmann the wagonwright) and Henry 
Antes, both of Bethlehem, repaired to Nazareth to make a survey 
of the ground with an eye to the erection of a second mill. Fail- 
ing to find a desirable site on the springs of the Menakes within 
the precincts of the Barony, they turned their footsteps eastward, 
and coming to the banks of this charming stream, which the Van 
Bogarts from Esopus named the Bushkill, and which the Scotch- 
Irish called Lefevre's Creek after Johannes Lefevre, whose meadows, 
distant a short mile to the south of us, were irrigated by its waters 
as early as 1745; — coming to this charming stream, Nitschmann 
and Antes, we read, selected this spot for the site of the projected 
improvement. 

Now their choice involved the purchase of a parcel of 324 acres 
of land, which was held by William Allen of Philadelphia. It 
had been conveyed to Allen by Lawrence Growden, Jr., in August 
of 1740, and was a portion of a great tract of 5,000 acres which 
old Proprietor Penn granted by indenture bearing date October 
25th, 1681, to Lawrence Growden, then of St. Austell in the County 
of Cornwall, and his heirs forever, under a yearly quit-rent of fifty 
English shillings, — and which the said Lawrence Growden was 
pleased to make over to his grandson, the above Lawrence Grow- 
den, Jr., of the parish of St. Merryn, Cornwall, by indenture bear- 
ing date October 26th, 1687. 

Negotiations with Mr. Allen for the purchase of this tract were 
finally concluded, when, on the 3d of January, 1750, he made deed 
of the 324 acres — " situate," as the instrument recites, " on the 
branches of Lehietan in the Forks of Delaware in Bucks County," 
to Henry Antes, — the consideration being <£324 lawful money of 

1 John Nitschmann was born in 1703, at Schonau, in Moravia. Immigrated to 
Herrnhut in 1723, where he became the private tutor of Christian Eenatus von 
Zinzendorf, whom he also accompanied to the University at Jena. In 1741 he 
was consecrated a Bishop, and came to America with a colony of 120 immigrants 
in 1749. Here he was President of the Directing Board until 1751, when he re- 
turned to Europe. Deceased at Zeyst, May 6, 1772. 



6 FEIEDENSTHAL 

the Province. In 1752. Mr. Antes conveyed the tract to the then 
three joint proprietors of the Moravian estates in this country. By 
these it was transmitted forward in the legitimate channel. 

Having thus secured a site for a new plantation and mill, the 
Brethren, on the tenth day alter the execution of Allen's deed, sent 
up five of their young men from Bethlehem to begin the clearing 
of the land. And soon the " chopping" bustled and grew warm 
with the hum of industry, although the mereury at times fell to 
zero. There was logging, grubbing, burning of grubs and hauling 
of stones from the quarries with ox-teams ; and scarce was the frost 
out of the ground, when, on the 1st of April, Andrew Schober, 1 
master mason in the Moravian Economy, arrived on the scene of 
action with a corps of" men-at-arms" and began to lay the found- 
ation walls of the mill and farm-house. From the mother settle- 
ment there were sent bricks for the fire-places as well as joists for 
the flooring, which joists had been cut and sawed on the Mahoning. 
Auxiliaries, whenever needed, were drafted from the brotherhood 
at Christian's Spring; and thus efficiently seconded, Mr. Antes saw 
the work which had been entrusted to him, hastening, with reason- 
able dispatch, towards completion. The mill was of his planning, 
he being both a millwright and a miller of many years' experience. 
It was furthermore his last effort, in the capacity of an architect 
and master-builder, to aid the Moravians, as in the autumn of the 
year of which we write he seveied his connection with that people, 
returning to his farm and mill on the Manatawny, in that beautiful 
region of country which stretches back from the present borough of 
Pottsgrove, Montgomery County. 2 



1 Andrew Schober, from Neuhofmansdorf, Moravia. Immigrated to Pennsyl- 
vania with the "Second Sea Congregation," 1743. Deceased at Bethlehem, July, 
1792. Descendants of the name living in Philadelphi i and North Carolina. 

2 Mr. Antes materially assisted the Moravians in the founding of Bethlehem, 
planned and superintended the construction of the first mills, aqueduct and ferry 
at that place; and built the mills at the Mahoning Mission and at Christian's 
Spring In the autumn of 1752 he accompanied Bishop Spangenberg to aid and 
advise in locating a great tract of land in Western North Carolina for a projected 
Moravian settlement. Being one of the three proprietors of Moravian real estate 
in the Province, during the tenure of that estate by joint tenancy, his name is en- 
rolled in the annals of our people alongside of the names of Joseph Spungenberg 
and David Nitsehmann, the wagonwright. Antes died on his farm in July of 
1755. Several of his children united with the Moravians. Ann Margaret, a 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 7 

In the second week of August, 1750, the mill was completed and 
put in running order. It was located on the left bank of the creek, 
about one hundred yards north of the spot on which its successor 
dow stands; was a substantial limestone structure with a frontage 
of 34 feet towards the south and a depth of 48 feet, and had four 
rooms. 1 It was furnished with an overshot water-wheel and one 
run of stones; the latter were cut by Peter May in his quarry on 
the Neshaminy and were delivered at the " Kill" at a cost of £9 10s 
currency. The mill-irons were wrought at the iron works of 
Messrs. Win. Logan & Co., Durham. 

The time being now come to festively inaugurate this so auspi- 
ciously finished piece of the millwright's handiwork on its career of 
promised usefulness to the race of bread-eating men, the twenty-first 
day of August was fixed as the day for a fitting demonstration. 
Its principal feature was a social repast or love-feast which was 
spread on the upper floor of the mill, and of which all who had 
contributed towards the mill's erection, partook. Bishop Cammei- 
hof, who at this time was at the head of the Brethren's movement 
in North America, presided on the occasion. It was a joyous one 
for many reasons; none the less, we ween, as the rolls of wheaten 
flour which the happy feasters dipped into their generous coffee, 
were made from the first grist that was ground for the Moravians 
by the waters of the Bush kill. These rolls had been baked by 
Sister Antes, and were, typically speaking, immaculate. Thus then, 
was the new mill inaugurated on its career of usefulness, on the 
21st of August, 1750. 

The dwelling or farmhouse, meanwhile, was still in the hands of 
the carpenters, being in fact, not ready for occupancy until the 
Spring of 1751. It stood directly east of the mill, was built of 
logs, 32 by 20 feet, was two stories high, and had four apartments. 2 



daughter, was the mother of the late B. H Latrobe, C. E., of Bal'imore, the archi- 
tect of the Capitol at Washington. Catherine, in 1796, married Simon Snyder of 
Northumberland, the Governor of the Commonwe 1th between 1808 and 1817; 
John Henry, was sometime sheriff of Northumberland County, and John, the 
youngest son, went as a missionary to Abyssinia. While in Egypt, as is well 
known to readers of Moravian history, John Antes was rather roughly handled 
by some wandering Arabs. 

1 In 1758 the mill was valued at £800 P. C. 
In 1758 it was valued at £80 P. C. 



8 FRIEDENSTHAL 

A flaring frame barn and three annexes, one for the horses, one 
for the cows, and one for the sheep, with a total frontage of 88 feet 
towards the south and a depth of 30 feet, eventually flanked the 
dwelling on the east. 

The Moravian enterprise at the "Kill" having lost its respon- 
sible head when Mr. Antes, early in the month of September, 
set out for his home, Abraham Miller of Gnadenthal was ap- 
pointed to temporarily succeed him. Hereupon he was domiciled 
with Ma^dalena his wife in a room in the mill. His instructions 
were to keep a sharp eye on the workmen and to screen the 
infant plantation from the rude gaze of passing idle or impertinent 
curiosity. 1 

The custodianship of the Millers terminated on the 27th of 
April 1751, a date which marks an epoch in our narrative, as 
on that day the dwelling on the "Kill" was occupied, the settle- 
ment received the sweet name of Friedensthal, which, being inter- 
preted, is the Vale of Peace ; and the completion of a fifth im- 
provement on their lands at Nazareth permitted the Moravians to 
congratulate themselves on their successive triumphs in an Amer- 
ican wilderness. 

From this memorable 27th of April, 1751, until the 1st of April, 
1764, Friedensthal was an integral part of the great Moravian 
Economy; that institution or polity, under which our forefathers 
were pleased to live, as being well adapted to their straitened cir- 
cumstances and likely to prove efficacious in holding the members 
of their brotherhood together by an almost indissoluble tie— with- 
out a tie of which character, there could be neither unity of action 
nor any reasonable hope of success in what they sought to accom- 
plish. The Moravian Economies, (lor there were several phases 
of them), have been variously understood by readers of Moravian 
history, and very erroneously by such as thought they found their 
parallel in the communistic movement of Fourier and later re- 
formers of his school. The Moravians were not communists in the 
current acceptation of the term. Their settlements were not phal- 

1 Abraham Miller, prior to uniting with the Moravians, resided on Richland 
Manor in the Great Swamp, ami was a Dunker or German Baptist In April of 
1752 he severed his connection with the Brethren and settled on a tract of land 
four miles south of their school-house in Dansbury or Lower Smithfield. Here 
in April of the following year, while felling timber, he was killed bya falling tree. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 9 

ansteries. The members of their Economies voluntarily, and only 
after they had been made acquainted with their requirements, con- 
tributed the labor of tiieir hands toward the furtherance of the re- 
ligious enterprises of their Church, — nothing more; while the 
Church, in turn, obligated herself to provide these her workers 
with the necessaries of life, — nothing more. There was, therefore, 
no common treasury as among the primitive Christians; no 
appropriation of goods and chattels of the individual ; no 
compulsion — no vows; and finally, no bar to the withdrawal of 
a member from a partnership, upon his signifying his reluctance 
to longer continue the reponsibilities which he had once felt free 
to assume. 

On the morning of the 27th of April, 1751,— to take up anew 
the thread of this narrative, — there was quite a stir at the " Kill," as 
preparations were in progress toward welcoming the expected 
Brethren and Sisters who were to be housed in the now completed 
and furnished dwelling. At nine o'clock, the first arrivals, among 
which were the officials of Nazareth, Gnadenthal and Christian's 
Spring, were announced, and an hour later, arrived the little com- 
pany of men and women for whom this day was a memorable one 
in the calendar of their lives. In the absence of Brother Cammer- 
hof, who was confined to his room at Bethlehem by a malady which 
proved fatal on the day following this festive occasion, Brother 
John Nitschmann, his colleague, conducted a short religious service, 
introduced the future inhabitants of the settlement, named it Frie- 
densthal, and finally pronounced it a dependency or " filial" of 
Nazareth. 

The following were the four couples who were settled at the 
"Kill," and the first members of the newly organized branch of the 
great Moravian Economy, of which we are writing : John Wolf- 
gang Michler and Rosin a his wife ; Rudolph Christi (now Crist) 
and Ann Mary his wife, with their infant son John Jacob; John 
Michael Miicke (now Micke) and Catharine his wife; and Matthew 
Krause and Christiana his wife. Michler was appointed chaplain 
of the household ; the mill was given in charge of Christi, for 
whose convenience an apartment had been snugly fitted up in the 
mill building, aside of the great water-wheel which sang young 
John Jacob's lullaby many a time to the relief of dame Christi, as 
often as she was elbow-deep in domestic duties and could ill afford 



10 FRIEDENSTHAL 

to have her attention diverted to another channel ; Miicke was ap- 
pointed farmer, and Krause was given him as an assistant. 1 

In this way, then, was the Moravian Vale of Peace peopled ; 
and being peopled, it unwittingly set about making history, the 
loose euds and fragments of which it has been the writer's en- 
deavor to collect and weave into a coherent web. 

The 324 acres of land on which the Moravians began Friedens- 
thal, as we have seen, was an L shaped tract with the longer limb 
stretching eastwardly from the Barony some 390 rods — full 200 



1 John Wolfgang Michler, a native of Wiirtemberg, a linen-weaver by trade, 
sailed in the "Little Strength" in the autumn of 1743, and was settled at Nazareth 
in 1744. He was ordained a deacon in 1762, and labored in the rural churches. 
Michler left descendants by sons and daughters. One of his sons was Nathaniel, 
proprietor of the Jacobsburg Inn, among the pines and scrub-oaks of Bushkill, as 
late as 1809— father of the late Hon. Peter S. Michler of Easton, father of Brevet 
Brig. Gen Nathaniel Michler of the U. S Army. 

Rudolph Christi, a native of Wiirtemberg, miller and farmer, sailed in the Os- 
good, Win. Wilkie, master, in the autumn of 1700, and was residing at Bethlehem 
when he received his appointment to Friedensthal. He died at Gnadenthal in 
May of 1763. Christi left descendants by sons and daughters. One of his six 
children was John Jacob Crist, who became a resident of new Nazareth in 1772, 
dying at that place in April of 1805, — father of John Jacob Crist Jr., who died 
in the borough of Nazareth in November of 1862, — father of Win. Crist and 
Richard Crist, — Richard Crist being father of Francis Crist. 

John Michael Miicke, a native of Upper Silesia, n cooper by trade, sailed in the 
"Little Strength," and was settled at Nazareth. The last twenty-five years of his 
life were spent at Gnadenthal, where he died in 1786. Miicke left descendants 
through sons and daughters. He had four sons : Peter, John, Lewis and Matthew- 
Lewis died in 1837 at the residence of his son Lewis Jr., at Wardsburg or Tria, 
situated on the old "through-route" to the Wind Gap in Plainfield township. He 
reached the great age of 84 years, and is well remembered as having been a diligent 
knitter of men's mittens and hose in the evening of his life Lewis Jr. reached 
the age of 84 years and died at Wardsburg, in 1871 He is best recalled by 
the name of "Squire Miicke," having held the scales of justice in Plainfield for a 
full half century. Lewis Jr., was the father of several sons, one of whom is John 
Micke, of Easton, merchant, — father of John W. Micke, of Easton. 

Matthew Krause, a native of Silesia, husbandman," sailed in the " Little 
Strength," and was settled at Nazareth. Having been ordained a deacon, lie was 
thereupon transferred to Bethabara, N. C, in 1755 There he died in 1762, 
and left descendants through sons and daughters One of his sons was Matthew 
Krause, Jr., who died at Christian's Spring in 1808, — the father of John Samuel 
Krause, watchmaker and silversmith, who died at Bethlehem in 1815, — father of 
Matthew Krause, merchant, who died at Bethlehem, in 1865, — lather of J. Samuel 
Krause of Bethlehem, merchant; and of Mary E., wife of Granville Henry of 
Boulton 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 11 

rods beyond the east branch of Bushkill. In the angle of this L 
were the lands of their next neighbor, Johannes Lefevre, of the 
Lefevres of Esopus. At his house Surveyor Scull and Wni. Par- 
sons had headquarters, when in May of 1752 they began to lay 
out the town of Easton. The relations existent between the Mo- 
ravians and the Huguenot were those of amity and peace; occasion- 
ally, however, interrupted, as for example, in July of 1759, when 
the latter was pleased to 'dog" two of Friedensthal's swine to death ; 
a lesson which farmer Hancke was instructed to improve in the 
right direction by looking well to his fences for the future. 1 

North of the Moravian iract stretched so called "Barrens," as 
yet vacant, and on the south lay two tracts held by that arch-spec- 
ulator in Province territory hereabouts, His Honor Mr. Chief 
Justice A 1 It'ii. - 

Finally a tract of 315 acres, which backed up against the extreme 
ea terly line of the Moravian L was held and farmed in Indian 
fa hion by the well-known Delaware chieftain Tatamy, the Pd- 
tamy of Loskiel, the Dadamy of Conrad VVeiser, and the Moses 
Linda Tatamy of the Colonial Records/ 5 



1 In 1774 the Lefevre tract was held in part, by John Van Etten, Lefevre 
h ing, as is said, removed with his family to South Carolina; and in part by 
A idrew Stocker. In 1785 Frederick Dield held the bulk of the old farm, and 
subsequently, and (within the memory of some here present) the Searles, both father 
and son, surveyors. The Lefevre homestead, a double log-house, is well remem- 
bered by Ebenezer Searle, of Bath, surveyor. 

2 The "Barrens," as far as they touched the head line of the Moravian Tract, were 
held in 1774, in part by Robert Matthews and Peter Kiichlein, and in 1785 by 
Martin Kindt, Peter Ehrich and George Stocker. 

Andrew Stocker and Michael Stocker occupied a part of the Allen lands in 1776. 

3 Count Zinzendorf interviewed Tatamy on his plantation in July of 1742. 
When David Brainerd began his missionary labors in the Forks of Delaware, in 
the early Summer of 1744, he employed Tatamy in the capacity of interpreter, 
and in July of 1745 admitted him by the rite of baptism into the fellowship of the 
Christian church, naming him Moses. " He was well suited for the work of an 
interpreter" writes Brainerd, " in regard of his acquaintance with the Indian and 
English language, as well as with the manners of both nations." Writes Thomas 
Penn to Governor Hamilton in October of 1760: "I forget whether I ever men- 
tioned that Tatamy took a patent for land in the Forks of Delaware several miles 
to the north of Easton. I suppose him to be the same Tatamy now employed in 
Province affairs, a circumstance which should be m^de use of to show his sense of 
his having purchased it. I believe it was with the privity of the Delaware Indians." 
In 1776 the Tatamy tract was held by George Stecher, next by John Stecher, 
and in 1855 in part by Valentine Werkheiser. 



12 FRIEDENSTHAL 

Tat's Gap, a pass over the Blue Hills at the head of Tat's Gap- 
road in Upper Mount Bethel, perpetuates the name of this dusky 
worthy of Provincial times. The east branch of Lehietan or Bush- 
kill, however, has lost its quondam name of TYitamy's Creek. 

From the status of their neighborhood it will be rightly inferred 
that the Moravians of Friedensthal, at the beginning of their 
Economy had no reason to complain of being inconveniently 
crowded ; in fact, such was not the case until years after the erec- 
tion of Northampton County, in as far as their domain bordered 
on those undesirable 11,000 acres of land which the Proprietaries 
in 1737 had incorporated in their Manor of Fermor or the Dry- 
lands. This was the region of country which Count Zinzendorf, 
soon after his return to Germany, in a letter written to Spangen- 
berg, pronounced waste, desert and worthless. The Moravians, in 
this sequestered corner of the "Forks," were in fact almost utterly 
cut off from the rest of the world, there being but one King's road 
by which they were directly linked to its din and turmoil, — to wit: 
the highway which led to the upper Ulster-Scot or Hunter's Set- 
tlement on Martin's Creek, in Lower Mount Bethel. In December 
of 1754, it is true, there was laid out by order of Court, a second 
King's road, " leading from Friedensthal past the Nazareth lime- 
kiln, below Christian's Spring saw-mill and brewery, to a certain 
place where the Brethren intend to build a saw-mill 1 on the western- 
most branch of Menakes on Nazareth land." 

To Nazareth and Bethlehem, however, and not to the great 
world without, did the Friedensthalers look for fellowship, and 
hence their isolation was practically immaterial. There are those 
living who have heard the fathers tell of a footpath by which the 
residents on the "Kill" were wont to journey to Nazareth, whether 
on Sundays or holy days, on their way to the house of God at 
Ephrata or the Hall — or on week days on matters of secular busi- 
ness. This path led through the heart of a piece of noble wood- 
land and then across great meadows, past limestone quarries and 
the site of the old Indian town, bringing you, after a charming 
half-hour's stroll, to the hospitable doors of the " great house on 
the hill." Many a time did Spangenberg, Boehler, Seidel, Graff, 
Lembke, Grube and other worthies of the Church, pass and re- 



1 This mill was never erected. 



TOWN OF NAZARETH, 

/arc/ out between. OlcLNciztzreihancl 

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COMPRISING ITS 



SCALE OF RODS. 

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DESCRIPTION AND CONTENTS OF THE LAND AT 



Christian's Spring, 

Gnadenthal, 



Acres. Roods. Perches. 

1600, O, O, 
1010, 3, O, 
TOTAL, S09S Acres, 




w 



Dates of trie Fouiaclaiicm or the Five 
iVloi'cCviaia S ettlenaeiais. 

Nazareth,.. J743. 

Gnadenthal oi-Vale of Grace, 1745. 

Christian's Spring 174S. 

Friedensthal ..r Vale of Peace, \749. 
Th e Rose 175?. 



NAZARETH, SHOWING HOW IT WAS DIVIDED IN 1785. 

Loods. Perch 

2, IO 

O, 14, 



Acres. Roods. Perches. 

Nazareth, (including "The Rose") 1866, 2, IO, 
Friedensthal, 61J 



1 Rood, 



24 Perches. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 13 

pass by this sylvan walk in the discharge of their official duties ; 
— perhaps to bring tidings from abroad with the latest instalment 
of "Periodical Accounts"— perhaps to announce a death in the 
brotherhood, or to look after the spiritual condition of the Frie- 
densthalers ; perchance to read them a homily or peradventure a 
fraternal lecture! And as for Bethlehem, — with it they were in 
close connection by way of the great King's road, leading " from 
the Bethlehem line N.N. E., quite to Nazareth 2840 perches," as 
was ordered by the Court of Quarter Sessions held at Newtown, in 
Bucks County, in March of 1745. 

The members of the household rose with the lark, — (in winter 
before the lark} and having broken their fast on frugal fare, re- 
paired, each to his daily toil. At 9 o'clock a bell that was hanging in 
the yard called them to lunch ; — when the shadow of the index on 
the sun-dial at the mill marked the hour of twelve, they met for the 
noonday meal ; — at two post meridiem, for a cup of coffee and 
bread or rolls, — and at sunset for the evening repast. A hard- 
working people they were ! And the saying ascribed to then), 
which has come down to us as a tradition — " Wenn nur gegessen, 
geschafft war' bald," savors strongly of waggery. 

Before proceeding to review the personal and local details of the 
Friedensthal Economy, it is in place to state, that its history em- 
braces two periods ; — a period in which the industries of peace, 
both at the mill and on the farm were pursued without molesta- 
tion, — and a period of unrest, rife with rumors of war, when non- 
combatant members would fain have turned their plowshares and 
pruning-hooksintoswords!— but could not. Who is there that would 
give to mill-life or farm-life one thought? Does not mill-life merely 
bring us face to face with that clannish people which loves to locate 
its strongholds in shadowy places on the border of some romantic 
stream, among willows and alders, through whose quivering foliage 
the sun-beams by day and the moon-beams by night flicker fitfully 
against the walls of the mill ; a long square shouldered pile of logs 
or stone, with flaring gable and a peaked cock-loft, — whence dan- 
gles a rope like a hangman's — and at whose side there is hung a 
ponderous wheel, with its periphery humid and dark and green 
with slimy moss, which in summer rolls round slowly, and thought- 
fully, and mournfully, as though life were a burden too grievous 
to be borne ; — in winter, a huge motionless thing like some Arctic 



14 FRIEDENSTHAL 

giant in the repose of death,— its floats and buckets covered with 
frozen foam and splendent with ice-spears. As for the miller, — 
or the whole race of millers, — are they not the men who grow 
prematurely gray because of their sinning in the article of toll ? — 
Are they not the men who hold fellowship with spiders which 
project geometrical diagrams into the nooks and corners of the dusty 
mill, not from a love for science, but to beguile innocent flies? 
Are they not, - Christians through they profess to be — priests of the 
mysteries of Ceres? Are they not the men who bob for eels in 
dark nights with dark lanterns— who catch the poor little fishes in 
brooks — who love the lazy hum of the waterfall and the kingfisher's 
rattle, and the very tremor and quiver of the floors under their feet, 
and all things strange and weird, — and who when not consulting 
the sun-dial or weathercock, or discerning the face of the heavens 
listlessly, with but half of their bodies visible to their fellow-crea- 
tures in the doorway over head, may be seen with great goggles 
riding a buhrstone by way of a hobby; --and who, when they steal 
silently out of their crazy and shaky old mills to mingle with the 
race of articulate men, look white all over, as if just arrived from 
the region of perpetual snow? 

The Friedensthal mill, under the management of Brother Ru- 
dolph Christi and his successors, proved a valuable acquisition to 
" the upper places," and gladdened the hearts of the men of the 
Barony. It was also a convenience for the neighbors, and we 
read that for the year ending June 1, 1755, there was taken toll of 
grain as follows, to wit: 

Toll of wheat, . . 154 bushels, 

rye, . . 185 

" buckwheat, . . 42 " 

" Indian corn, . 37 " 

The price of wheat at the time was 3s. 6d., or 47 cents, and that 
of the other cereals a proportionate figure. For the same year 
there were ground for the " upper places" and for Bethlehem, 631 
bushels of wheat, 286 of rye, 87 of buckwheat and 76 of Indian corn. 

In November of 1758 a second run of mill-stones, cut near 
Fort Allen, was added to the mill-works. The brethren who con- 
ducted this lucrative branch of industry, for the benefit of the 
Economy at Friedensthal, during Moravian Proprietorship, were 
the following; to wit: 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 15 

Rudolph Christi, first on the rolls ; — he dying, as we are disposed 
to believe, within a six months after entering upon his duties, was 
succeeded by 

Hartmann Verdries, (1751-1756) —the same Hartmann who 
had been one of the first landlords of "The Crown," and who ex- 
changed his position here, for that of host at " The Rose," in the late 
summer of 1756. Verdries was subsequently some time miller at 
Bethlehem. He died in Frederick Co., Maryland, i:i 1774. 

Philip Transou, (Thirty-pence), a Palatine, (1756-1760), was 
our third miller. He had acquired the art of milling at Bethlehem, 
and pursued the same avocation at Lititz, Lancaster Co., on his 
removal to that settlement in April, 1762. 

Hartmann Verdries took charge of the mill for a second time in 
1760. 

Harmanus Loesch, a son of John George and Philippine Loesch 
and a native of Tulpehocken, which being interpreted is " the land 
of the tortoise" in old Berks, ran the mill between 1762 and 1765. 
In the last named year lie was succeeded by 

Daniel Oesterlein, a Wiirtemberger from the once imperial city of 
Ulm, and a locksmith by trade. But nevertheless, he administered 
the concerns of our mill acceptably for a full lunar year. Oesterlein 
and his wife Elizabeth, and infant son, together with the two Brand- 
miller's, were the sole inhabitants of Friedensthal. when, in the 
spring of 1767, it passed into the hands of a tenant. He died at 
old Nazareth, where he spent the remainder of his life, in 1768. 

Harmanus Loesch succeeded Oesterlein, and ground the last grist 
with which the Moravians were concerned, on the 25th of March, 
1771. The mill property then passed into the hands of strangers. 
He died at Bethlehem in 1791. 

These, then, were the men who furnished the inhabitants of the 
Barony with the staff of life; the men who, like Joseph, when in 
the plenteous years the earth brought forth by handsful,- -gathered, 
into the mill, corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until they 
left numbering, — for it was without number, —and who, when their 
Brethren cried for bread, opened the storehouse at the mill and 
filled their Brethren's sacks with food. 

It behooves us, in the next place, to record the names, in their suc- 
cession, of the men who furnished the members of the household 
at Friedensthal with spiritual sustenance. 



1 6 FRIEDENSTHAL 

Michler was succeeded in the Chaplaincy in the autumn of 
1754 by 

Brother John Munster of Zauchtenthal, Moravia, and Rosina, 
his wife. 

Munster was succeeded by Joseph Midler and Verona his wife, 
— the same Miiller, who, as we read in "A Red Rose from the 
Olden Time," periodically practiced minor surgery and the art of 
phlebotomy at that ancient Inn. 

Miiller was succeeded in 1758 by John and Elizabeth Schneider, 
both born Moravians, and Schneider in 1764 by John Brandmiller 
from Basel, and Mary his wife. This was the last clerical couple 
domiciled in the so-called "Gemein-haus" at Friedensthal. Dur- 
ing Brandmiller's incumbency there was printed and published at 
Friedensthal, for the use of the American congregations, the edition 
of the standard collection of " Scripture Texts," prepared by the 
heads of the church in Saxony, for all its congregations and mis- 
sions for the year 1767. The printing was done in Roman char- 
acters, —and probably with the press and type that had been for- 
warded to Bethlehem in the autumn of 1761, from the lumber- 
rooms of the Lindsey House, Chelsea, Kensington Division of the 
Hundred of Ossulstone, Middlesex, England, --where Zinzendorf 
and his fellow- helpers some time sat in high council, directing the 
world-wide movements of the Church, and giving audience to the 
ambassadors of the Great King, even from the ice-bound fiords of 
Greenland and the remotest Indies. What disciple of Faust 
and Gutenberg executed this first specimen of the typographer's art 
done in Forks Township, this deponent knoweth not,' 

1 Since writing the above, this deponent has found a copy of the rare libretto, 
(an octavo of 60 pages), in the library of the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, 
entitled "Die taglichen Loosungen der Briider Gemeine fur das Jahr 1767," and 
bearing the imprint : "Gedruckt bey Bethlehem in der Fork Dellawar, by Johann 

Brandmiller, MI >CCLXVII." The head-piece on the first page is < iposed (if 

heraldic charges and crests peculiar to the armory of the sovereigns of Great 
Britain, subsequent to tin- accession of James I — showing, among others, the fleur- 
de-lys, the crown, the [rish harp and the rose and thistle of the Tudors. 

John Brandmiller was born on the 24th of November 1704, in Basel, of parents 
who were members of the Reformed Church. In his 1 1th year lie was indentured 
to his uncle, a printer by trade — disliking the craft, and chafing under the close con- 
finementto which he was subjected, the adventurous lad went out into the world to 
seek his fortune. A year of wandering, in the course of which he worked his 
way up the Rhine to Amsterdam, and bitter experiences, brought him at the ex- 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 17 

We would justly subject ourselves to the charge of partiality for 
mills and millers, were we to pass over in silence the labors of those 
inmates of the Friedensthal Economy, who, as tillers of the soil 
and herdsmen, contributed very materially to its historic develop- 
ment. But here the reader must be cautioned against falling into 
a grave error, as he would inevitably do, — were he from premises 
of his own conception, — to conclude that when the Brethren pur- 
chased the Growden Tract, they designed to add one more to their 
grain- groicing plantations. It was a mill-site they needed and not 
a farm ; and when they came into possession of a desirable one, as 
we have seen, they very thoughtfully resolved to utilize the adja- 
cent acres in what manner time and experience might demon- 
strate as most feasible. From divers specific surveys, drawn by 
that clever Moravian draftsman, George Wenzeslaus Golkowfsky, 
a native of Brobeck, Principality Teschen, Upper Silesia — (he im- 
migrated in 1753, subsequently to 1762 was made bookkeeper-gen- 
eral for the Barony, with headquarters at Christian's Spring, and 
died at Nazareth in Dec. of 1813) — from divers surveys of "old 
Gully, as he was called by men still living — we learn that while 
the longer limit of the Moravian L on Bushkill was a plantation 
of scrub-oak — the very heart of the Growden Trad, bristled with 
brush and sapling — and there was comparatively little heavy timber 



piration of that time, to reflection ; and he turned his steps homeward. Having 
served out his apprenticeship, we find him subsequently, in the year 1735, set- 
tled in lite and tlie head of a family in Basel. About this time he heard of the 
Brethren's movement, and in 1738 was induced to visit Herrnhut. The impres- 
sion here made upon him, confirmed him in his resolution to unite with the Mo- 
ravians, and on the following year he removed with his family to Herrnhaag, 
near Frankfort-on-the-Main. There he was admitted to church-fellowship. In 
1741 he accompanied the first colony of Brethren to Pennsylvania, and after a six- 
months sojourn in this country, sailed for the continent With his wife he re- 
turned in 1743, settled at Bethlehem, and was appointed steward — he being the 
first to fill the stewardship at that place. In 17i~> he was ordained a deacon of the 
Church. His appointments in the ministry were at Swatara, Allemangel, and 
Donegal successively. Occasionally he itinerated in the rural districts, after the 
manner of the Brethren of that day and traveled as an evangelist to the Walloons 
of New Pfaltz and Esopus on the Hudson, and the German settlers in Western 
Virginia. His last appointment was at Friedensthal. In 1768 he was recalled to 
Bethlehem and retired from active life. Thrice, he relates in his autobiography, 
he narrowly escaped death by drowning in the Rhine — and it was a singular coin- 
cidence that the lifeless body of the old Schweitzer should have been found in the 
mill-race at Bethlehem in the morning of August 16, 1777. 
2 



1 8 FRIEDENSTHAL 

to indicate the presence of fat land underfoot. In May of 1757, 
a parcel of 134 acres resting on the headline of the first purchase 
and on the head line of the Barony, was added to our domain — it 
being patented to the Brethren by the Hon'ble, the Proprietors, 
Thomas Penn and Richard Perm, by patent bearing date, May 21, 
of that year. This tract was known as the " Dam-Tract" not, (as 
some might erroneously suppose) because the soil was stubborn and 
perplexingly interwoven with grubs and scrub-oak— but because 
within its precincts, in the days of Henry Antes, the waters of the 
Bushkill were collected into a reservoir for feeding the mill-race. 
Thus Friedensthal territory was increased to 460 acres. At a 
later day, finally, there was added a very unsymmetrical parcel of 
166 acres, which followed the serpentine windings of the Lehietan 
to the north of the " Dam-Tract ;" — nameless, although, forsooth 
it wedged itself into the very heart of that region of cis-montane 
Northampton — which is designated most persistently by early sur- 
veyors as ''•plains or barrens, covered with scrub-oak, up to the Blew 
Hills: , 

The prospect here, it must be confessed, was certainly a cheerless 
one (from the husbandman's point of view), and lest the men of 
Friedensthal should lose heart, there was given them a t ,enerous 
slice of baronial land, touching the Growdeu Tract on . s south- 
west corner. These 40 acres constituted the "grain-farm" for 
Friedensthal during the time of its Economy. For the rest — 
there were fine stretches of made meadow along the Bushkill — and 
green swales in among the scrub-oak of the " Dam-Tract" — all of 
which were used in the grazing of cattle and the pasturing of sheep, 
branches of industry which were most profitably conducted. Yet 
the stout hearts and the strong hands of the Wiirtembergers had 
to contend with many an obstacle — before the acres began to bud 
and unfold as the rose, and before there grew up for them a vine 
and a fig-tree. 

And these are the names of the Wiirtembergers and others with 
their wives, who dwelt here as tillers of the soil, as herdsmen, and 
as keepers of sheep : 

John Stoll, (1751) with Anna, his wife, from- Oettingen, hus- 
bandman, subsequently Cur many years saw-miller at Bethlehem 
and host of " The Crown," and the maternal grandfather of our 
late esteemed Bro. Andrew G. Kern. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 19 

Ludwig Stotz, a Wiirtemberger from Lauffen, husbandman, and 
Johanna, his wife. 

Peter G'otje (1754-1755) from Holstein, cordwainer, and Bar- 
bara, his wife. (Born 1716 at St. Margaretta, Holstein — died 
March, 1798.) 

John Andrew Kremser, and Christina, his wife, sometime heads 
of the bureau of agriculture, and members of our Economy from 
1753 to 1767; — outliving it, therefore, by three years, when in 
February of 1767 the old Silesian husbandman died in harness in 
the farm house. He was the father of John Kremser, the landlord 
of the Nazareth Inn, the second " Rose," in the last decade of the 
last century — and father of Charles Kremser of Bethlehem, cedar- 
cooper, now in his 78th year. 

3fatthew Hancke and Elizabeth, his wife, superintended the farm 
between 1756 and 1763. In 1764 we find the Hanckes settled at 
Gnadenthal. (Born 1707 in Upper Silesia, died January, 1785, 
at Nazareth.) Other members of the Friedensthal Economy, hus- 
bandmen, and handicraftsmen, in the interval between 1754 and 
1764 were the following, to wit: 

Peter Mordick, (1754) a Holsteiner, born 1716, died May, 1783, 
(at Naza-' th,) and Magdalene, his wife. 

Paul 1 itsche, from Moravia, carpenter, and Rosin a, his wife. 

Matthew Withe, from Moravia, and Ann Mary, his wife. 

George Crist, from Moravia, and Ann Mary, his wife. 

George Volck, (1758) of the Volcks of Allemangel on the 
springs of Antelauna, in old Berks, but a native of Di'irustein, 
near the erst imperial city Worms, and 

Tobias Demuth, a youth of sixteen summers, last from Alle- 
mangel. In January of 1764, our population were constituted as 
follows : 

Chaplain, Brandmiller ; miller, Loesch, wife and daughter 
Christina ; assistant miller, Oesterlein, and wife ; the two Fritsches; 
Christian Werner, a widower; Jacob Rubel, and Catharine his wife; 
David Kuntz, and Mary Elizabeth, his wife, and their infant son, 
John David. 

It would be gratuitous, indeed, to enlarge upon the delights of 
farm life as it glided by in this " Vale of Peace." Are not the 
charms of that life immortal in the rhapsodies of Homer, and 
decked with the unfading flowers of song in the Doric pastorals of 



30 FREEDEjSTSTHAL 

Theocritus. And yet, for our forefathers here, it v;as not purely 
idyllic. There was much hard work to be done. There was the 
Tract at the Dam ! There were gum-trees growing on its eastern 
margin, to be felled and riven for firewood, and curled maples on 
the banks of the Bushkill, whose timber was coveted by the gun- 
stock-maker over at the Spring. There was the sweat of the brow 
in the harvest field, as well as the song of the lark in the dewy- 
meadow on a fine May morning. There were wrong headed young 
steers to be broken into docile "Bucks" and " Brights," 1 and now 
and then the majestic bell-wether, just as he was about to lead the 
way for the flock into the fold at eventide, startled as it were by 
some unholy remembrance, would turn tail on the barn-yard and 
fly as if on the wings of the wind for the swales on the Tract at 
the Dam with his panic stricken wives and little ones at his heels. 
It may delight the heart of the statistician to learn that the fol- 
lowing items, bearing on the status of the Friedenstha'l farm, have 
at different periods been gleaned from the very highest authorities 
extant. In 1754 there were on the farm, of meadow, 13 acres — of 
arable land, 21 acres. Five acres of the latter were in rye, sowed at 
the rate of one bushel per acre — five acres in wheat, sowed at the 
same rate — one acre in barley, sowed at the rate of two bushels 
per acre — six acres in oats, sowed at the same rate — two acres in 
flax, sowed at the rate of two bushels of flax-seed per acre — two 
acres of buckwheat, sowed at the rate of one bushel per acre, and 
one and one half acres in turnips. The yield of the farm for the 
following year, (1755), was as follows: 

Of hay, 8 loads; 

Of aftermath, 3 " 

Of wheat, 4 " yielding 80^ bu. of grain ; 

Of barley, 1 " " 27 « 

Of oats, 5J " " 235 

Of flaxseed, 5 \ bushels ; 

Of buckwheat, 17 bushels. 

On the 31st of December of the same year there were in 

their stalls in the great stable — 4 milch cows; 27 head of young 

cattle, yearlings and three-year-olds — 1 yoke of* oxen, and 3 

horses. For the year ending June I, 1755, there were consumed at 

1 " October 15, 1752. Cash paid steward at Friedenstluil for two Brethren who 
learned two oxen to go., £2." Diaeonate's Ledger, D. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 2.1 

Friedensthal lif4 gallons of Matthiessen's (horn 1712, died at Naz- 
areth 1796) beer, from the brewery at Christian's Spring— equiva- 
lent, it has been estimated by an expert, to fifty gallons of modern 
lager. This is but one of a number of similar records testifying 
to the habitual sobriety of its people. 

The Tract at the Dam being well adapted for pasture and for 
naught else, it was customary to summer the Bethlehem flock, as 
well as the sheep kept at the " upper places," within its precincts. 
Thus it happened that there fell in the month of June annually, at 
Friedensthal, the festival of sheep-shearing — than which there was 
none more joyous in the agricultural calendar of the Barony. It 
was preceded by sheep- washing — and we are not far from the 
very spot, which a century ago, resounded with the wail of heart- 
broken ewes as they emerged with dripping fleeces from the pool, 
to gather to their sides the lambkins from whom, they had been for 
a time so cruelly separated. Now the shearing of sheep here was 
altogether done by female labor — chiefly by our great-grandmothers 
and their sisters contemporaneous of Bethlehem, — a custom of 
which their great-grand-daughters and sisters contemporaneous 
should be proud, in as far as it prevailed long, long ago — at least a 
hundred years before the era of weak backs and poor man's plasters ! 

In April of 1761 there were 140 lambs at Friedensthal — in 
June of 1762 there were 213 ewes, and of lambs a proportionate 
number. The yield of the farm for the year ending 31st of May, 
1763, was valued at ,£43, currency; and finally, when on the 31st 
May, 1764, there was an assessment made of the effects of the Econ- 
omy, the stock in the mill was rated at =£14-1-1, and the stock on 
the farm at £1 72-1 6-3, currency. 

Bidding a final adieu to these bucolic and pastoral scenes, we are 
now, in the right course of this narrative, brought face to face with 
that period in the history of Friedensthal which was rife with the 
rumors of savage warfare, and in which its non-combatant members 
would fain have turned their plow-shares and their pruning hooks 
into swords, but they could not ! We have come to the times of 
the so-called " French and Indian War," in which there was 
brought, by an invisible foe, swift destruction upon the frontiers of 
the Province — confounding the wisdom of its law-givers — bring- 
ing to naught the councils of its rulers, and threatening, at one 
time, to wrest its noble domain from the Crown of England. 



22 FRIEDENSTHAL 

Whether might else than the accumulated wrongs at the hands of 
the white man under which the Delawares and their cousins, the 
Shawanese, were chafing, spurred them on to take the hatchet and 
the war-path at the solicitation of French emissaries, may, perhaps, 
never be known. Braddock's defeat in July of 1755, was the pre- 
lude to the invasion of the unprotected frontiers — desultory, fur- 
sooth, in its character, but, none the less bloody, fatal and desolating. 
The settlement on John Penn's Creek below Sunbury, was sacked 
on the 18th October. The great cove on the Conecocheague 
shared the same fate on the 3rd of November; and two weeks 
later the camp fires of the savages blazed along the line of the Blue 
Hills from the Susquehanna to the Delaware. But when on the 
morning of the 25th November, intelligence of the destruction of 
the Gnadenhiitten mission made men's hearts quail, the settlers of 
this part of the Province first realized that the enemy was at 
their door. Then followed in quick succession the affair at 
Hoeths 1 at the springs of Pocopoco, the attack on Brod head's, 2 and 
the precipitate flight of the inhabitants of trans-montane North- 
ampton, to the Moravian settlements on the Barony of Nazareth. 
They came like hound-driven sheep, a motley crowd of men, 
women and children, — Palatines, most of them, with uncouth 
names; some, as we read, " with clothes not fit to be seen of man- 
kind;" and some with scarce a sufficiency of rags to cover their 
nakedness. So, on the 29th of January, 1756, there were 253 of 
these houseless refugees at Nazareth, 52 at Gnadenthal, 48 at 
Christian's Spring, 21 at "the Rose" and 75 here at Friedensthal. 
Of this number 226 were children. The winter of 1755-6 was 
not only the darkest in the annals of the Province, but also in the 
annals of American Moravian history. A flourishing mission had 
been irreparably ruined, involving a heavy pecuniary loss, and the 
loss of precious lives, — and it seemd at this crisis, — now that their 
plantations were become frontier-posts, as though the seal of doom 
had been set upon all their earthly hopes and aspirations. Brad- 



1 Frederick Hoeth, baker, from Zweibriicken. Immigrated in 1748, and is 
registered with his wife Johanette, among the members of the Philadelphia con- 
gregation in 1749. In 1750 he purchased 700 acres ol land on the Poo 
Creek, in Long Valley in Upper Northampton, now Monroe, Co., and removed 
thither with his family in 1752. He and his wife were surprised and killed by the 
Indians, December 10, 1755. 

Tli- ;iitack at Culver's near Brodheads. 

a* *6 . r, 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 23 

dock's defeat failed to move the Proprietary government to a sense 
of the danger that was imminent, and so, when the Indians in- 
augurated their bloody orgies, they tomahawked, and scalped and 
burned as they listed. But in December of '55, at the eleventh 
hour, Governor Morris hastened to put the Province on a war-foot- 
ing. Then it came to pass that the defence of the " back parts" of 
Northampton and Berks was committed to worthy hands. Hastily 
throwing aside the philosopher's gown, and donning the soldier's 
martial cloak, Franklin hurried hither to the scene of action, to run a 
new career. He was twice at Bethlehem; and, acquainting himself, 
while there, with the critical posture of the Moravian settle- 
ments, and cognizant of the importance to the Province at large 
of their integrity — made such disposition of the military under his 
command as to afford them some means of defence, if not to insure 
their safety. 

Turning to the annals of Friedensthal Economy, we find the first 
arrival of fugitives chronicled on the 13th of December, '55 and 
special mention made of a poor Palatine who had barely escaped 
from the hands of the murdering savages near Hoeth's. It was late 
in the night when word was brought him that Hoeth's had been 
cut off. There was not a moment to be lost — and so, taking his 
helpless wife upon his shoulders, as she lay in bed (she had but 
lately given birth to an infant) he fled for his life. On the 
21st a fugitive brought the report to the farm that the fol- 
lowing night had been fixed upon by the Indians, for a simul- 
taneous attack upon the five plantations on the Barony. Brother 
Nathaniel Seidel of Bethlehem, who, so to say, was in command at 
the " upper places " since the breaking out of hostilities, with his 
headquarters at Christian's Spring, thereupon took precautionary 
steps to avert a surprise, and, there being two companies of riflemen 
at Nazareth, he posted Lieut. Brown of Captain Sol. Jenning's com- 
mand of Ulster-Scots, with 18 men, at Friedensthal. There was, 
however, no need of their presence, — or perhaps the enemy, aware 
of their presence, or seeing that they were foiled, desisted from their 
premeditated attack. It was a sad Christmas, forsooth, the Christ- 
mas of 1755, for the Christmas-loving Moravians— this dwelling in 
the midst of alarms in a horrible place. The sun of that memor- 
able year went down in blood ; and when a new sun rose in the 
morning of the 1st day of January, 1756, it was in a sky ail lurid 

1.0FC. 



24 FKIEDENSTHAL 

and dun — hung with heavy clouds along the northern horizon. The 
savages were again holding high carnival. They sacked New Gna- 
denhutten, (Weissport), — invaded the plains adjacent to the Barony 
— and overran the foot of the mountain between the Lehigh and the 
Delaware. Ascending columns of smoke marked the progress of 
the destroyers. It was now that there was a new influx of fugitives 
into the "upper places," and the second week of January there Mere 
in the Friedensthal mill — seventy-five pitiful objects, men, women 
and children, to wit : 

George Minier, wife and seven children. 

Philip Bossert, wife and seven children. 

Jacob Stechert, wife and seven children. 

• 2r ■ 
Michael Koster, wife and five children. 

Adam Engler, wife and four children. 

Leonard Beyer, wife and four children. 

William Lerch, wife and three children. 

Peter Schaefer, wife and three children. 

Martin Kindt, wife and three children. 

Frederic Ziegler, wife and two children. 

William Stuber, wife and two children. 

Hans Michel Walcker, wife and two children. 

George Webb and Magdalene his wife, she being the relict of Bro. 
Abraham Miller — the same who, as we have seen, was the custodian 
of the improvements on the Kill, and whose fate has been here- 
tofore related. 1 

On the 6th of* January, Bro. Seidel agreed with four refugees at 
Friedensthal, to watch for the coming month at that place — ai the 
rate of £1-4-9, for the four per week, and food and lodging. The 
names of these guardians (thanks to the recorder), are Michael 
Biittler, John Biittler, Jacob Engler and John Schutterling. There 
were additional outlays for hired help of this kind at the Economy, 
in the course of this eventful year 1756. 



refugees returned to their homes after a few days sojourn — other* 
were remaining at the mill, far into the month of May. During their stay pro- 
vision was made by the Moravians not only for their temporal, but also for their 
spiritual wants -they met for worship in the mill — such as were able assisted in 
the labors of the farm. Finally they were also recipients of the charitable offer- 
ings forwarded to Bethlehem, bj the members of the "Friendly Association" in 
Philadelphia. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 25 

On the loth of January a company of refugees at Bethlehem set 
out for the mountains, to look after their farms and cattle. Among 
them was Christian Boemper, a son of Abraham Boemper, of Beth- 
lehem, silversmith, and son-in-law oi" Frederic Hoeth— and Adam 
Hold, his servant, a Redemptioner. The party, and some soldiers 
who escorted them, fell into the hands of the Indians, near Schupp's 
mill, Hold alone escaping, with a seveie flesh wound in the arm, 
which eventually cost him the loss of that limb. 1 The killed, 
according to Capt. Trump, were Christian Boemper, Felty Hold, 
Michael Hold, Laurence Kunckle, and four privates of his com- 
pany, then stationed at Fort Hamilton, (Stroudsburgh). Andrew 
Kremser, in a letter, dated Friedensthal, January 22d, alludes to 
this sad affair, and gives us also additional information of great 
interest in the following words: "Yesterday there came to us 
three men from the mountain, whose parents are here with us. 
They report that the bodies of the eight were found, and buried 
by the soldiers. Christian Boemper's body was stripped quite 
naked — of Culver they knew nothing. Our dogs make a great 
noise every night 'till 12 o'clock, and run towards the 
island, which is very bushy ; and not without ground, I am inclined 
to suspect." 

We glean from the Peun'a Gazette— one Mulhausen, a Palatine, 
while breaking flax on the farm of Philip Bossert in Lower Smith- 
field, was shot through the body by an unseen Indian, receiving a 
wound, which, it was feared, would prove mortal. One of Bossert's 
sons running out of the house on the report of the gun, was shot by 
the enemy in several places, and soon died. Hereupon old Philip 
appeared on the scene of action, and exchanged shots with one of the 
attacking party, striking him in the small of the back, a reception 



1 John Adam Hold was a native of Hanau, on the French border, where he was 
bom in September of 1737. After the affair at Schupp's mill, the wounded man 
was taken to Bethlehem, where, on the 29th of January, the arm was amputated 
by Dr. John M. Otto. Here he was admitted to the Brethren's house, was a mem- 
ber of their Economy eleven years, and in January of 1767, removed to Christian's 
Spring. There he died in 1802. Despite the loss of his left arm, Hold in time be- 
came an expert axeman, and he is known as the man who cut down the thickest 
tree in the Weissthal, on the Barony. The late Bro. Samuel Reinke told the writer 
that he had a very vivid recollection of Adam Hold — that he was a short, thickset 
old man, and that whenever he came from the Spring to Nazareth, he was accom- 
panied by two large dogs. 



26 FKIEDENSTHAL 

that sent the savage oft*' 1 howling." He himself, however, received 
a fleshwound in the arm. At this juncture some of Bossert's neigh- 
bors came to the rescue, and the five remaining Indians (for there 
had been a Avar-party of six) made off. Miilhausen was taken to 
the Friedensthal mill, where he received surgical treatment at the 
hands of Dr. Otto, 1 whose professional services were in great demand 
at this time, far beyond the Moravian horizon. But the poor man 
was beyond help, and on the 3d of March he breathed his last. The 
burial service of our church was read over the remains, by Brother 
Graff, as they lay in the mill — and there upon they were removed 
by the widow, for interment in a neighboring graveyard. 

The Moravians of olden times, as a people, it is well known, con- 
scientiously scrupled bearing arms -and in an Act of Parliament, 
entitled "An Act for encouraging the people known by the name of 
Unitas Fratrum, or United Brethren to settle in his Majesty's 
Colonies in America," passed at Westminster, on the 10th day of 
March, 1748, in the reign of the second George— they were con- 
ditionally exempted from doing military service in any of his 
Majesty's Colonies or Provinces in that hemisphere. But they were 
far from scrupling to defend themselves against the violence of 
wicked men. Franklin forsooth, when on his way from Bethlehem 
to Fort Allen to discharge an old rusty swivel or two, that he had 
planted on that maiden fortification of his, by way of Leyden jars, 
comments in accordance with the bent of his philosophical mind on 
the posture of our forefathers, after the following manner : " I men- 
tioned my surprise to Bishop Spangenberg at finding the brethren 
who kept watch, armed, knowing that they have obtained an Act of 
Parliament, exempting them from military duty, — and I thought to 
myself, in face of facts, that they had either deceived themselves or 
Parliament." Be this as it may, the commander-in chief at the 
"upper places" called a council of war at Friedensthal on the 9th of 



1 John Matthew Otto was born in Meiningen, 9th November, 1714. Studied 
medicine and surgery at Augsburg. Immigrated to Pennsylvania and arrived at 
Bethlehem in July of 1750. For thirty-six years he was physician and >urgeon 
of the Brethren's settlements. < >n L7th September, 1753, he married Joanna 
Sophia Magdalene Dressier. She dying 20th February, 1776, he was mat 
3econdtime, 28th October, L778, to Maria Magdalen Schmidt. The daughter of his 
son, Joseph Otto, married I >r. II. B. Smith of Nazareth, the father of Rev. Henry 1. 
Schmidt, Gebhard Professor in Columbia College, New York, and of Edward Otto 
Smith, merchant, of Philadelphia, Dr. Otto died . -it Bethlehem, 9th A.ugust, L785. 




CO 
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AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 27 

March, al which it was resolved to stand vigilantly on the de- 
fensive, and to stockade the place. As there was no time to lose, 
timber for the piles was commenced to be felled on the third day 
after the council,— and before the expiration of the month, the Frie- 
densthalers, with the assistance of the young men of Christian's 
Spring, had completed the work. It enclosed the mill, the dwell- 
ing, the barn and the stabling over ihe way. Commissary General 
of ye musters, James Young, has left us a description of this piece 
of Moravian engineering— though, forsooth, he treats it rather 
cavalierly, we ween, when he writes in his report to Gov. Morris, 
under date of June 25, briefly, as follows : " It is a large but 
slight stockade about 400 feet one way, and 250 the other, with 
lot" houses at the corners for bastions." Whether this rude fortifi- 
cation was retained as long as those at Nazareth and Gnadenthal, is 
very questionable. 

Among the refugees domiciled in the Whitefield House, at 
Nazareth, at this date, there was a family of Culvers, to wit : 
Ephraim, the father; Elizabeth, his wife; Ephraim Jr., and four 
daughters. They had been for years attached to the Moravian 
domestic mission in Lower Smithfield, to which township they had 
moved in 1751, and when on the invasion of that township in the 
second week of December last, prudence became the better part of 
valor, the Culvers fled. It was a narrow escape for the miller and 
his family — as, on looking back, when but a few miles on their 
flight, they saw both mill and dwelling wrapped in flames. It being 
well known to the Brethren, that Satan finds work for idle hands 
to do, young Ephraim Culver was put to "miller Verdries." Thus 
our little Economy received an increase in its population of one. 
But, in 1769, we find this Culver at Bethlehem, occupying, as baker, 
the large stone house in which the late John F. Wolle conducted a 
store for the benefit of the Moravian Society. 

We have thus rehearsed the most trying period for the Brethren, 
in the course of the so-called "French and Indian War," which was 
protracted into the spring of 1758. 

It may here he stated that on the 24th August, 1756, the 
shingled roof of the dwelling in Friedensthal took fire from sparks 
from the bake-oven, and had not Lefevre's people lent helping 
hands, it was thought that the entire settlement would have been 
laid in ashes. 



28 FRIEDENSTHAL 

While visiting in the spring of 1871, at the house of the vener- 
able Philip Boerstler, whose farm lies a short mile west from here, 
the writer learned the following tradition, which has been pre- 
served in the Boerstler family from the days of the grandfather, 
John Boerstler, only son of Jacob Boerstler, who immigrated from 
the Palatinate in 1724 — settled in Oley and there in 1727 married 
Catharine Peter. It relates to these turbulent times. Pointing in 
the direction of the lowland which stretches out to the south of his 
farm — and which in the earliest surveys of the Barony, in the 
surveys of Renter and Golkowfsky is called "The Long Meadow" 
or " The Meadows," pa/r excellence, — pointing thither as we were 
taking a cooling draught from the " Indian Spring," near his door- 
way, " There," said Philip, " at the base of that limestone ridge 
which bounds the meadows on the south, ran a trail between old 
Nazareth and Friedensthal — and on that trail, one of our minister- 
ing brethren, in the times of the Indian war, escaped. with his life 
from the deadly aim of an Indian's rifle as by a miracle. It was 
the custom of our brethren to make the tour of the settlements on 
the tract — dispensing words of cheer or ghostly comfort to men 
whose hearts were failing them amid the harrowing uncertainties 
in which they lived. Thrice had the passing evangelist been 
marked by the lurking savage in his covert on the ridge, and thrice 
did the- painted brave pass his fingers across the notches in his tally, 
which reminded him that there was but one scalp lacking of 
the needed twelve, to insure him a captainship in his clan. 
The love of glory fired the dusky warrior's bosom, but he 
hesitated to perpetrate the foul deed, for in his intended victim 
he recognized the man whom he had once heard speaking words 
of peace and mercy and forgiveness, in the turreted little 
chapel on the Mahoning. But when the coveted prize was within 
his view for the fourth time, casting from him the remembrance 
of better things, and calling upon the Evil Spirit to smite him a 
paralytic, should he quail in taking aim, the frenzied Delaware 
drew a deadly bead upon our brother, and almost saw himself 
a chieftain — when lo! his rifle fell to the earth, and the brawny 
limbs and the keen sight lost their cunning for those of an im- 
potent." "And what was the subsequent fate of this so marvel- 
lously thwarted savage?" 1 asked. "He became a convert," 
replied Philip, "and a helper at the mission." "And did you 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 29 

learn the evangelist's name?" I questioned — said Philip, " Fries, 
or Grube, I believe." 1 

The precautions which, as we have seen, were taken to secure 
Friedensthal against a surprise from the " enemy Indians," as 
they are called in the old records, were only intermitted toward the 
close of 1757. There were repeated alarms and rumors — and then 
serious apprehensions that there would be a repetition of the 
barbaric horrors of the winter of 1755-56. In the third week 
of March, 1757, the stewards of the "upper places" were cau- 
tioned to keep vigilant watch — to reset the shutters on the 
houses, and to secure the gates of the pallisades with strong 
fastenings. About the same time Warden Schropp, 2 on learning 
that the setting of the watches might no longer be done with- 
out the Governor's special leave, petitioned his Honor, Gov. 
Denny, to sanction tlie appointment of our miller "Thirty 
Pence," to be overseer of the watch at the Friedensthal plantation." 
There was certainly need of this new care — for on the 24th March, 

1 The following stanza from a rhythmical narrative of the event that occurred 
at Nazareth during the month of November, 1756 — lends credence to the substance 
of this piece of tradition of the olden ime. 

"Der Feind schwiirmt taglich um uns 'rum, 

Und wollt uns iiberfallen; 
Der Arm wurd ihm in Schiessen stumm, 
S'Gewehr musst ab warts fallen." 

3 Matthew Schropp from Kaufbeuren, circle of Swabia, Bavaria, and Ann 
Mary, m. n., Thomet his wife ; immigrated with the " Second Sea Congregation" in 
1743 He was ordained a Deacon in 1748. Warden at Bethlehem, Nazareth, and 
Bethabara, N. C, where he deceased in 1767. Descendants are numerous — most 
of those now present through a daughter married in 1781 to William Henry of 
Lancaster, then settled at Nazareth. 

3 " But being sensible that this cannot be done regularly without the Governor's 
special leave, or rather his orders. We hereby request your Honor to authorize 
the said Watch under your Hand and Seal, and to appoint George Klein and 
Johann Ortlieb, in Bethlehem; Godfried Schwarz, in Christiansbrunn Plantation; 
Abraham Hessler, in Gnadenthal Plantation; Nicholas Shafier, in Nazareth Plan- 
tation ; and Philip Transue, in Friedensthal Plantation, overseers of the said 
Watch, and Henry Frey to be chief overseer of the Watches in the tour last above 
mentioned Plantations &c." 

" By the Hon'ble Wm. Denny, Esqr. Lt. Gov'r. Capt. Gen'l, and Com't in 
Chief of ye Province of Penn'a and Co'tes of N., K. and S., upon Delaware. 

"To George Klein and John Ortlieb, of Bethlehem, in ye Co'ty of Northamp- 
ton, Greeting : 

''Whereas. — Ye Moravian Brethren, seated within ye Forks of Delaware, 
have by their arldress of ye 14th of this Inst., March, represented to me y't in ye 
time of ye late Ravages, Murders and Devastations committed by ye Indians upon 
Inhabitants in ye back parts of this Prov., they ye s'd Moravian Brethren, were 
obliged for their Defence and Safety of themselves and many of their neighbors, 
who resorted thither for y't purpose, to fortify and secure the several of their set- 
tlem't w'th Stocadoes, and to place and to keep therein Military Watches ; and 



30 FRIEDENSTHAL 

David Heckewelder, 1 father of John Heckewelder, missionary to 

being desirous to continue ye same till the apprehensions of further Mischief from 
ye s'd Indians and our declared enemies ye French are over, they have humbly 
besought me to grant my Commission (amongst others) to you, ye s'd Geo. Klein 
and John Ortlieb, to be Overseers or Captains of ye Military Watch, w'ch the said 
Brethren propose, at their own expense, to continue to keep at Bethlehem at"d ; 
and I having, with ye Provincial Council, taken into consideration the necessity, 
utility and advantage of such a Military Watch for ye safety, protection and De- 
fence, as well ye s'd Moravian Brethren as other ye Inhabitants of y't part of ye 
Prov.; and Reposing special Trust and Confidence in your Ability, Loyalty, 
Courage and Fidelity, I have, and by these presents in witness of ye powers in ye 
behalf to act, do constitute, authorize and appoint you ye s'd Geo. Klein and John 
Ortlieb, to be ye Captains or Overseers, jointly, or either of you, severally, of ye 
Military Watch, to be kept and continued by ye s'd Brethren at Bethlehem, af 'd ; 
Giving and hereby Granting, as well unto you, ye s'dCap'ns or Overseers, as to ye 
rest of s'd Military Watch, full power and authority to take and use arms, and by 
force of arms to repel, pursue, apprehend, size, take, hold and destroy all such In- 
dian and enemies who shall commit or attempt to commit any hostilities within 
this Prov. 

"And you are, by all opportunities and means in your power, to gain all ye In- 
telligence you can of ye motions, strength and designs of any Indian or other En- 
emies who shall appear in your part of ye prov., and upon obtaining any such 
material Intelligence, immediately to send me full information thereof, from time 
to time, this Commission to continue. 

"Have appointed and Commissionated ye following persons to lie Capt'ns or over- 
seers of ye watches to be kept and continued in ye respective places herein after stated, 
that is to say, Godfried Schwarz, at Christian Brunn plant'n, Abram Hessler, at 
Gnadenthal plant'n, Nidi's Schaffer, at Nazareth plant'n, and Philip Trentsou, ai 
Friedensthal plant'n, and Trust and confide in your Ability, Loyalty, Courage and 
Fidelity, and judging you fitly qualified for ye purpose, Have and by these pr'ts do 
in virtue of ye power in ye behalf to me given, hereby constitute, authorize and 
appoint you ye s'd Henry Frey to be Chief Capt'n or overseer for ye superintend- 
ing and better ordering of ye Military Watches at ye s'd Several plant'ns of Chris- 
tian Brunn, Gnadenthal, Nazareth, Friedensthal, And ye s'd watches and Capt'n 
thereof are hereby required to be subordinate to and strictly to observe and obey 
your orders and directions in ye premises, giving full power and authority to take, 
seize amies with ye assistance of ye s'd Military watches or any of you, by force of 
amies to repel. 

"As you are carefully to obey and observe my Orders and Instructions from 
time to time, and those of ye Gov't and Com't in Chief of ye s'd Prov. for ye time 
being. 

" Giving, &c. 

"6 Separate Commissions, to wit: 

"1st to George Klein and | forBethlehem 
John Ortlieb. i 

"2d to Godfried Schwarz, in Christian's Brunn. 

"3d to Abram Hessler in Gnadenthal. 

"4th to Nicholas Shaffer in Nazareth. 

"5th to Philip Trentsou in Friedensthal. 

" 6th to Henry Frey, to he Chief Captain or overseer of Christian's Brunn, 
Gnadenthal, Nazareth and Friedensthal." 

In June of 1756 Captain Inslee, Ensign Inslee and twenty-four men were 
stationed in the Mill. 

1 David Heckewelder, a a itive of Moravia, whence he emigrated to Herrnhut. 
Labored in tin- service of Ins church in Bedfordshire and Yorkshire, England, in 

the interval between L742 and 17o4. Together with Ins wife and children, he 

sailed for Pennsylvania in March, and arrived at Bethlehem in April of 17~>l 

In 1759 he was called to enter the Moravian Mission on St. Thomas, \Y. 1. He 
died on (he island of St John in 1760. 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 31 

the Delawares, who was residing in an apartment in Nazareth 
Hall (then not fully completed) reported that he had found, not a 
stone's throw from the house, suspended from a sapling in the 
woods, an Indian token wrought from swan's feathers — a token 
such as served to mark the chosen site of a rendezvous for warriors, 
when about to strike a blow. 

In April the savages were again at work in the townships of 
Lehigh and Allen. " We are in the utmost consternation and 
confusion, and expect daily to be murdered by the Indians" — is the 
burden of the petition for military protection, presented to the 
Governor in behalf of these harrassed townships, by Frederic Al- 
temus, James Kennedy and others. And so it came to pass, that 
in the first week of May, our mill was once more filled with fugi- 
tives. It was one of this number who brought the sad intelligence 
that Webb's place had been burned last Sunday by some Indians 
led on by a Frenchman. Webb's wife, Abraham Miller's widow, 
and her son Abraham, were taken prisoners. This statement was 
confirmed a few weeks later by the lad, who had effected his 
escape. Under date of 22d August, of the year we are reviewing > 
Warden Schropp reported to the Governor : "In Friedensthal mill 
they all have arms, and are constantly on the guard and watch by 
turns." This was no more than three weeks before the high- 
handed outrage perpetrated by some of Tadeuskund's subjects up 
at Keller's in Plainfield, where, one day while Joseph Keller was 
plowing for a neighbor, there came a war party of Delawares, en- 
tered Keller's castle, laid hands on his wife and three sons— but 
considerately enough, left a babe in the cradle untouched, the little 
thing being, doubtless^ deemed by them unavailable property, under 
the circumstances. 

Subsequently to this, no event, to our knowledge, occurred 
on the borders of the Barony, which was calculated to fill 
its inhabitants with dread of Indian forays, for the immediate 
present. 

A spirit of lawlessness, however, it would appear, seized hold of 
others than Indians during the prevalence of the protracted war, 
or rather, succession of marauds which we have been considering. 
They became demoralized — as the saying is — and some of the 
demoralized neighbors of the Moravians were moved, in August, 
of L756, lo invade and sack the orchards of that industrious 



32 FRIEDENSTHAI. 

people. Now by these orchards, stocked as they were with 
the choicest grafts — grafts of " early harvest," of the "summer 
greening," and of "spitzenbergers," both red and white, — our 
forefathers laid great store — as on their yield they depended alto- 
gether for their winter's supply of dried fruit, and conserves of 
apples, — now the latter was locally called "apple-butter," — probably 
because of its proving an economical and yet appetizing sub- 
stitute for the "Goshen" of those days — prime Goshen was made 
at Christian's Spring — and this apple-butter was stored away 
in earthen crocks, as capacious almost, as the oil-jars of the treach- 
erous guest of Ali Baba — and then entrusted to the " master of 
the cellar" (Kellermeister), for safe keeping. But when the crop 
of apples on the Barony was in a fair way of failing in conse- 
quence of these inroads on the orchard, there was posted a word of 
caution to the trespassers in the Friedensthal mill, as well as in the 
smithy at the Spring and in " The Rose."' You may read it, ver- 
batim et literatim in the volume of the chronicle entitled "A Red 
Rose from the Olden Time." 

What mishap befell the bell that from the first rung out its 
summons for the Friedensthalers, we have failed to learn — and the 
" reminder" thrown out by its presiding officer in the course of the 
sessions of a little council held at Nazareth on the 15th of Sep- 
tember, to wit: " The bell at the nursery needs looking after, lest 
it share the fate of the Friedensthal bell," remains an unsealed 
riddle for this deponent, even unto the present day. 

Friedensthal received a respectable accession to its population 
(which, by the way, exceeded a baker's dozen) in May of 1758. 
Three families of Delawares, sixteen souls all told, were permitted to 
plant on its domain. Bishop Spangenberg tells us who they were 
in a " List of Indians," with remarks appended, which he prepared 
for George Croghan in September following. " They were In- 
dians of Tadeuskund's party who came in from the Susquehanna 
country after Gov. Morris's proclamation of a cessation of arms. 
The Commissioners providing for them, they were located here as 
neutrals, and all the time while they lived by Bethlehem, in 
Saucon Township, where the Tavern is, gave us unspeakable 
trouble. We applied to the Governor, to the Assembly, and to the 
Commissioners to have them removed — for we did not like these 
guests — but in vain. At last in the spring, they returned to the 



AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 33 

Susquehanna, and then Nicodemus, Zaccheus, Nathaniel and Jon- 
athan begged a little piece of land to plant, which we gave them 
at Nazareth and Friedensthal." These vagrants were tolerated on 
their lands by the Brethren till the time of the fall-hunt. Mean- 
while there was light work given them to do on the farm, and 
Chaplain Grube of Gnadenthal, ministered to them weekly in 
things spiritual, for they had been instructed in the tenets of the 
Christian religion at the Gnadenhuetten mission. 

Full four years of tranquility passed, and we have come, 
in the course of this history, to the summer of the year 1763, 
the summer of that memorable year, in which the Indian 
people of the then western country conspired under Pontiac, the 
Ottawa, in a mighty effort to reclaim their ancestral seats from the 
English, and drive the hated intruders into the waters of the great 
Salt Lake. This movement on the part of their western brethren, 
awakened memories of old wrongs in the bosoms of the Indians 
east of the Alleghanies — and they unburied the hatchet. It was 
feared that the horrors of the autumn of ] 755 would be re-enacted. 
Isolated settlements along the frontiers again became the scene of 
barbarities — and when it was learned that the enemy was maraud- 
ing on the south side of the Blue Mountains, the Moravians in 
Northampton trembled for the safety of their homes. It was in- 
deed a critical time. The pallisades were reset around the houses 
of their women and children, and on their farms guards were set, 
and guard-houses built — and old cutlasses and blunderbusses fur- 
bished up, and no preparation neglected that might insure a suc- 
cessful repulse of the dreaded invaders. Once more, and for the 
last time in its history, the inhabitants of this peaceful vale, girded 
on baldric and sword and took buckler, for the defence of their 
firesides. The mill-wheel stood motionless — the long rope dangled 
listlessly from the cockloft— the click of the shuttle in the weaver's 
room was mute, and the cobbler's lapstone gathered moss as it lay 
neglected under his leather-seated bench ! In the first week of 
October fell that well-concerted maraud into Northampton, 1 in 
which a war-party of Delawares struck a quick but fatal blow at 
Stenton's in Allen township, killing and wounding eight persons. 
Plundering Andrew Hazlitt's farm-house, and tomahawking his 

1 See " Brief Account of Murders by the Indians and the Cause thereof, in 
Northampton Co., Pa., Oct. 8, 1763," by Jos. J. Mickley, Philadelphia, 1875. 



34 FRIEDENSTHAL 

wife and two children, they fired old Philip Kratzer's barn, waded 
the Lehigh at the so-called " Indian Falls" above Siegfried's 
Bridge, and in Egypt of Whitehall, murdered and burned at 
Mickley's, Schneider's and Marx's. There were twelve in the 
party, says " old Schneider," who saw them cross the river at the 
Falls, from the roof of the house he was shingling that October 
morning. 

An influx of fugitives into the Moravian settlements followed 
this bold foray, and on the 9th of October, the Friedensthal mill 
was crowded with Ulster-Scots from Allen and Lehigh. But the 
threatened storm blew harmlessly over, and before the expiration 
of the month, our brethren here met in their chapel for the giving 
of thanks to their Divine protector for deliverance from death. 1 

We are drawing towards the close of this history. In the spring 
of 1762, the social and financial tie which had bound the Moravians 
in this country iu one body politic for full twenty years, was abro- 
gated by the so-called General Economy. This measure involved 
important changes, and marks an epochal point in the history of 
our people, in as far as they were then put into a condition to pre- 
pare themselves for progress in new directions. This change of 
the General Economy was, in fact, the first stepping-stone in the 
passage toward the shore of New Moravianism, on which we stand. 
But in order, so to say, to temper the wind to the shorn lamb, or 
lessen the rude shock that would be the inevitable concomitant of 
so radical a change, the Commissioners who had been appointed to 
effect it. saw fit to sanction the establishment of separate Economies 
at Bethlehem, Nazareth, Christian's Spring and Friedensthal. 
These continued for a longer or shorter period of time. 

That at Friedensthal dissolved in March of 1764. Its dissolu- 
tion, however, brought with it no material change of inhabitants. 
When, in the summer of 1766, however, it was found that the 
maintenance of the farm under existing circumstances was a source 
of financial loss to the Church, the Brethren looked round for a 
tenant. They found one in Dorst Alleman,a, native of the Canton 
of Berne, Switzerland, but prior to 1761, settled in Lancaster Co., 
and attached to the Moravian settlement Hebron on the Quitope- 

1 One item more for the man of statistics. In an assessment of Moravian pro- 
perty made in May of L763, the Friedensthal mill is valued al £800 currency, and 

the dwelling, barns and stalls together, at £475. (Ledger E, Beth. Diae.) 






AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 35 

hille (just without the limits of the present Borough of Lebanon). 
Having covenanted with the Brethren to take the farm on "thirds," 
and having purchased the stock, to wit: horses, cattle and swine, 
valued at <£71-17 — Grain in the bin valued at =£23-8-2, and the 
standing crops, both summer and winter, valued at X28-14-6, 
Alleman and Verona, his wife, occupied the farm house on the 
50th March, 1767. Ten days before, Chaplain Brandmiller 
vacated his apartments, and on the 11th April, the Oesterleins fol- 
lowed him. Loesch, however, remained at the mill, and conducted 
its affairs for the Brethren, until the Spring of 1771. 

On the 20th April of that year " the 500 acres of land at Naza- 
reth, called Friedensthal," so we read, "including the farm-build- 
ings and mill, were sold by Nathaniel Seidel, Proprietor, to one 
Samuel Huber of Warwick township, Lancaster County, for the 
sum of £2,000, Penna. Currency." And so the Yale of Peace 
passed into the hands of strangers. 

These are the brief chronicles of Friedensthal and its stockaded 
mill. Had the writer's lot been cast among the men who lived in 
the first decade of our century — men who delighted to tell of the 
olden time — had he been privileged to interrogate, among others, 
Knottel Kaske of Ephrata, and Berg Kaske of Schneppenthal, as, 
with fellows of like kidney, they sat sipping cordial of anise and 
carraway at Balzer Vognitz's over at the springs — had he been 
permitted to ransack that grotesque and arabesque pile of buildings 
at " old Nazareth," into which, so to say, as into the lumber-room 
of some baronial hall, there was thrown the cast-away furniture of 
the Moravian Economy — ancient men and women of diverse nation- 
alities and races and tongues — diminutive men in black velvet 
skullcaps, and dressed in livery of sober brown, reticent excepting 
touching the matter of the olden time, whose footsteps were noise- 
less as they forever paced the dingy corridors — their arms behind 
them, with the air of men hopelessly striving to solve a problem — 
being devoid of relish for the pleasures of this world save the 
drinking of coffee and the smoking of tobacco from long-shanked 
pipes; — diminutive women, robed in short gowns of homespun and 
with bald caps of the whitest muslin, who flitted noiselessly to and 
fro, and who, when not spinning or knitting, gathered in the cor- 
ridors to brew coffee in quaint-looking braziers — women who were 
reticent except touching the matter of the olden time, — negroes and 



36 FRIEDENSTHAL AND ITS STOCKADED MILL. 

negresses, natives of Congo and Dahomy, — some of whom remem- 
bered the festivities attendant upon the coronation of the second 
George — who spoke the German of Lusatia, and wondered how 
they had come hither — some of the blood-royal in the land of the 
oil-palm and gold, around whose gray heads there hovered an in- 
effable nimbus, as they joined in the songs of their adopted Zion, 
— and who were reticent, save touching the matter of the olden 
time — had the writer, or some antiquary, been privileged to ran- 
sack the lumber-rooms of that grotesque and arabesque pile, verily, 
he believes there would have been no end to the writing of this 
book of the chronicles of the stockaded mill. 

In the course of a visit to Nazareth in May of 1871, I felt an 
irresistible drawing to this place, it having been one of the scenes 
of my boyhood's life at school, forty years ago. It was on that 
occasion that I learned the following facts, which may serve as a 
sequel to my history. 

The present mill was built in 1794, by Jacob Eyerie, of Nazareth, 
a son of Jacob Eyerie, a native of Wiirtemberg, blacksmith, who 

immigrated in 1753. In it was sold by Anna Maria Haneke, 

the administratrix de bonis non of Jacob Eyerie the younger, to 
Joel Weiss. Weiss renovated and converted into a dwelling, the 
old stone mill. He dying, the mill and adjacent lands were sold 
by his executors to Abraham Heller and Philip Correll. Some 
thirty years ago, Heller sold the mill to Clewell and Albright, by 
whom it was demolished, its stones and timbers transported to 
Stockertown, and then built up into a mill, long known as Wood- 
ring's mill. That mill took fire and burned down in 1866. Isaac 
Ackerman bought the mill-property here, from Joseph and Edward 
Heller, sons of Abraham Heller. Ackerman sold it to George 
Spier. Spier sold it to Charles Mann, who occupies it at the date 
of this writing. 1 August, 1875. 



1 Information from Peter Heller, aged 50, a son of Abraham Heller, who as- 
sisted at the demolition of the old Moravian Mill. 




LB S '08 



